


A Convincing Display

by TheMangosity



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Drama, Keyblades, Other, Suspense, Weapons, action later on, roxas is in the wrong place at the wrong time, so much plot twist you wouldn't believe, zexion is not emo just grumpy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 19:03:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2439476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMangosity/pseuds/TheMangosity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas gets taken advantage of and has no idea how to cope. When he is attacked a second time, Zexion manages to accidentally stumble upon the act, and knows just who to tell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> _I originally published this story on FanFiction.Net on 8-13-2010, a heck of a long time ago. I posted the second and third chapters a lot later, in 2014._

Although the Center Room bustled with activity in the mornings, in the evenings the room sat empty and dim. By this time Saïx had handed out all the missions he was going to for the day, and most of these missions had already been completed. There was no reason for anyone to be in the Center Room by late evening, but Roxas did not know this. When he rushed in, frantically shouting for help, he expected the room to be full of other people. It took him a moment to realize that no one was there.

"N-No," he whispered, his voice shaking with fright. He searched left and right as if he might find the other members of the organization hiding behind the sofas, but the room really was empty. " _No_."

Trembling, he began to nervously pace the room, giving sharp, anxious breaths as he tried to figure out what he could do. He was so terrified that he could hardly think at all. At the sound of a creak from the hallway behind him, he suddenly spun around to make sure that _he_ had not followed him. It did not soothe his nerves to find that the hallway was empty.

In fact, this was Roxas' breaking point.

He collapsed onto one of the sofas and suddenly began to weep, burrowing his face into his arms and wondering how everything could have possibly gotten so far out of hand. Roxas was not aware of how much time passed nor did he actually care, but at some point a dark portal appeared in the corner, and Axel stepped through.

"Perfect," Axel thought, surveying the silent room. Unlike Roxas he was greatly relieved to see that the Center Room was empty. To him it meant that Saïx was gone, and that he would not have to complete another mission. It wasn't until he crossed the room that he heard a tiny hiccup, and looked over to find Roxas sprawled out on a couch, sobbing. Considering their lack of hearts, Axel found this extremely odd. He contemplated just leaving him there to sort out his problem, but he could hardly leave Roxas crying all alone in the middle of the room without at least asking what was wrong.

"Hey, kid," he called, leaning over the back of the sofa. "What's the matter? Did you stub your toe or something?"

Roxas started at the sound of Axel's voice, and looked up at him with bleary eyes and a tear streaked face. Axel had to admit that he was impressed. Roxas must have had some pretty vivid memories of sadness to put on a display this convincing.

"Are you all right?" Axel asked again, and Roxas sluggishly sat up.

"I'm fine. I just…Where's Saïx?" An idea suddenly came to him that might just fix everything.

"…You're crying because you can't find Saïx?"

" _No_. I…I just really need to speak with him."

"Well, sorry to break this to you, but he's probably already gone back to his room by now. He's not talking to anybody until morning."

"Oh…"

Axel could see that Roxas was about to start crying again, so he came around to the front of the sofa and pulled him to his feet.

"Why don't you go to your room now?" Axel suggested. "I'm sure you'll feel better after you rest for a while."

He did not wait for Roxas to reply, and began to lead him off down the hallway. When they got to Roxas' room, Axel opened the door and gently prodded him in.

"Try to get some sleep, okay?"

"…Okay…"

Axel began to close the door, but then Roxas called out to him.

"Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"If…if I told you something, would you promise not to tell anyone else?"

"Um…sure. Go ahead."

Roxas opened his mouth, ready to tell Axel everything, but struggled to find the words. In the end, he found that he would not feel comfortable telling anyone what had happened, not even Axel.

"Never mind," he said flatly.

"Are you sure?"

Roxas nodded wordlessly.

"…Well, see you tomorrow."

Axel didn't even bother waiting for a response from Roxas, and closed the door to leave him to his thoughts. Once Axel was far away enough not to hear, Roxas hurried to lock himself in, but it was no use to calm him. Even in this locked room he felt unsafe.

"I…I need to breathe," he said aloud, removing his heavy coat. He put on a fresh pair of pajamas and sat at the edge of the bed, his mind full of questions he had fooled himself into thinking he did not know the answers to.

"He _tricked_ me," Roxas thought. Anger suddenly flooded into him as he realized how naïve and gullible he had been. He saw now how avoidable this situation was, and wished with every fiber of himself that he could go back and keep this whole mess from starting, but there was absolutely nothing he could do. He was stuck with the experience, and there was no way to undo it or take it away.

The sudden sense of helplessness sent dread into him, and he felt a lump come to his throat.

"No. Be strong," he thought, tears brimming at his eyes. "I have to be _strong_."

He laid his head down onto his pillow, fighting to keep from crying, but the unwanted tears came anyway, and then the sobs. Finally he pulled his legs up to his chest, and succumbed to the misery he wasn't supposed to be able to feel.

He cried his heart out.

**To Be Continued…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I originally wrote this author's note on 8-13-2010, hence the reference to Akuroku Day. And Friday the 13th._ I'm so glad I finished it on time! I really wanted to get this out today because I thought Akuroku fans would really enjoy it. Plus, who doesn't want their story to be out on Friday the 13th? So happy Akuroku Day, and I hope you all continue to read this!^^


	2. Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I posted this chapter on FanFiction.Net on 8-26-2014, a full four years after I posted the first chapter. I'm sure nobody cared about this story by then, but I wanted to finish it, no matter what. The first half of the chapter is material that I wrote back in 2010, but everything else is recent. I tried to match the style I had back then, but hey, maybe my writing improved so much in those four years that it's impossible. Ha...I can dream, can't I?_

Roxas peaked into the Center Room to make sure that _he_ had not come in yet. Only Saïx, Xigbar, and Zexion had made it in so far, and so Roxas felt it was safe to enter.

"Okay," he thought, walking in like normal. "If I tell Saïx what happened yesterday, he can set everything straight…Maybe." For some reason this plan had made much more sense the previous day.

He approached Saïx without much confidence, but before he could say anything, Saïx said, "You're late. You were supposed to report here over half an hour ago."

"I-I know," Roxas replied, his courage deflating. "I overslept and–"

"I don't need an excuse." He looked highly displeased, and all intentions of explaining anything to Saïx suddenly left Roxas. "You were going to be partnered with Larxene today, but you took so long that I reassigned her. Instead you'll go with Marluxia. Your mission…"

Roxas stopped listening at this point. A cold wave washed over him, and his breath hitched in his throat. He felt like he was about to be sick.

"Roxas? Are you listening?"

"I can't," he suddenly blurted out.

"What?"

"I can't do that mission. Is there another one I can do?"

"And why can't you do this mission?" Saïx asked, raising an annoyed, impatient eyebrow.

"I just…I just can't." Roxas desperately searched for something to say, some reason to skip this mission, but he could find no legitimate reason other than the truth. "I can't go because–"

"Because he's shy," a voice came from behind. Roxas shivered as Marluxia entered the room. "But going on a few more missions will change all that. Right?" Marluxia placed a hand on Roxas' shoulder, and he hastily shrugged it off, refusing to look at him.

"You need more discipline," Saïx scowled, disapproving of what he thought was disrespect toward Marluxia. "I won't have you skip this mission just because you don't feel like going." He looked up at Marluxia. "You're paired with him today in Twilight Town collecting hearts."

"But…but I…I can't…"

"No buts," Saïx cut him off. "You're going. It's final."

Roxas looked from Saïx to Marluxia and back again, and then, frightened and not knowing what else he could do, he took off running down the hallway.

"What's with blondie?" Xigbar asked, who had been listening in from the other side of the room.

More surprised than angry, Saïx stared after Roxas and said, "He's been acting very strangely today."

"He probably _is_ just shy," Zexion commented offhandedly, turning a page of his book. "He's hardly said a thing since he first joined."

"Roxas and I are going to have to leave soon if you had planned on us finishing the mission at a reasonable time," Marluxia said. Saïx agreed and told him to go get Roxas and bring him back. As Marluxia left the room, no one noticed the odd gleam in his eye.

* * *

Roxas ran all the way to the end of the hall and slumped down with his back against the wall.

"What am I supposed to do?" he thought. He couldn't bear the thought of going on a mission with Marluxia, not after last night. He wasn't ready yet. It would be too much to handle.

He didn't have much time to think about how he was going to get out of it. Before he knew it, large hands had gripped his shoulders and he was being slammed against the wall, his feet dangling above the ground. He was staring at the eyes of evil framed by rosy-colored hair.

"Listen, Keybearer," Marluxia growled. "You will go on this mission and you will tell no one of our…agreement. Do you understand?"

Roxas tried to give an answer, but nothing would come out of his dry throat.

"I asked if you understood," Marluxia growled, and his grip tightened around Roxas' coat, threatening to suffocate him.

Roxas managed to yelp "I understand!"

Marluxia dropped him to the ground the moment the words left his mouth. "Good. Now be a good boy and come along."

Roxas did as he was told, shuffling his feet as he followed Marluxia back to the Center Room. He was going on this mission. There was nothing he could do about it. He only hoped he could slip away afterwards before Marluxia got any ideas.

* * *

The mission was less uncomfortable than Roxas thought it would be. He and Marluxia had always worked well together before…everything, and it wasn't long before Roxas was staring down an empty courtyard and a multitude of red hearts rising into the air.

It had taken less than an hour, and Roxas was eager to get back to headquarters and away from Marluxia as quickly as possible.

"Excellent," Marluxia said, and Roxas didn't turn around to face him. He didn't know if he could face the malevolent grin he knew was there. "We've finished in record time."

"Yeah," Roxas replied without inflection. "I'm getting out of here."

Roxas didn't know when Marluxia even had the chance to get behind him, or when the large arm came around his neck. He only knew that he was suddenly in a viselike headlock.

"H-hey! Get off of me!"

"I have a better idea," Marluxia said, his voice a small tickle on Roxas' ear. A portal of darkness plumed up before them, and Roxas began to kick.

"I told you to get off!"

"Come on, Roxas. We're _friends_ , aren't we? There's no need to be so rude." He began to drag Roxas, kicking, toward the portal. "Come. There's much work to be done."

Roxas couldn't fight the grip around his neck, couldn't slow Marluxia's march for the portal. As the dark portal closed up behind them both, his stomach sank. He should have just stayed in bed today.

**To Be Continued...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Author's note from 8-26-2014._ I haven't updated this since I posted it four years ago, but that didn't stop me from finally writing out an ending. I didn't expect it to take so long for me to get around to finishing this, and I couldn't have predicted how the plot would turn out. The third and final part to "A Convincing Display" goes up tomorrow. I hope to see you then.


	3. Part III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I posted this chapter on FanFiction.Net on 8-27-2014. This is where things get interesting. Enjoy the final chapter! Seriously. Enjoy it._

Zexion was not known around the organization as the type to warm up to anyone, ever. He respected Vexen and he tolerated Lexaeus, but other than those two, the other members of the organization were worthless mincemeat, mincemeat that he liked to ignore. And so it wasn't usual for him to be roaming the halls of their stark white living complex. He had no one to visit, and even if he had, he wouldn't have bothered visiting them.

It wasn't a social call that had dragged him out of his room. It was the infernal racket that had started exactly seven and a half minutes ago in the room directly beneath his.

"Marluxia," he muttered under his breath. The "Graceful Assassin" had never rubbed Zexion the right way. His attitude was sanctimonious, condescending at best, and Zexion couldn't imagine how someone at nearly the utter bottom of the hierarchy could delude themselves into thinking they were so important. Zexion wouldn't have this bottom feeder interrupt his peace and quiet. He didn't care how high and mighty he thought he was.

Without a care in the world to hide it from anyone who might have been passing by, Zexion grabbed the doorknob to Marluxia's room and swung the door open with as much authority as he could muster.

The sight that greeted him was almost enough to make even his jaw drop.

Marluxia's room was awash with green. Both the floor and the walls were covered in plants and blossoms, most of them far larger than any plants Zexion had ever seen. This didn't surprise him. As excessive as it was, Marluxia was a master gardener, and Zexion would have expected Marluxia's room to be covered in plants, flower-lover that he was.

He would not have expected to find Roxas dressed in an apron made of roses, his Keyblade in one hand and a frilly flowerpot in the other. He looked ready to fight, probably had been fighting before Zexion came in.

Both eyes in the room darted up to meet Zexion as he stared at them blankly.

"Hello, Zexion," Marluxia said smoothly, as though this was the most normal scene on the planet to walk in on. "Roxas and I were just brushing up on his gardening skills. I'd say he's doing a fine job."

Zexion frowned. It was obvious what was going on here, and that was not it. Marluxia had tried this trick on some of the other members, the ones he had thought he could bend to his whims. None of them had fallen for it. Remembering Roxas' behavior that morning, Zexion concluded that this wasn't the first time Roxas had experienced Marluxia's wicked sense of humor.

Zexion crossed his arms and scowled. "I hope you're having fun. It's costing me work."

"Forgive us," Marluxia said as Roxas cast pleading eyes in Zexion's direction. "We'll keep it quiet."

"Do try."

Zexion had seen enough. He shut the door behind him and stalked away down the hallway, conjuring up a dark portal without a thought.

He wasn't the type of person to offer assistance to anyone if it didn't directly benefit him. However, he liked Marluxia less than he liked not helping others. A lot less. He also had nothing personal against the newest member of the organization, and he didn't particularly want to see him fall victim to Marluxia's latest ploy.

It was for this reason that, for the second time that day, Zexion did something that would have surprised anyone else there to witness it.

He knocked on Axel's door.

It took a while for the redhead to make it to the door, but he eventually opened it up with a sour look on his face. Apparently Zexion had interrupted naptime.

"This better be good," Axel began, but he froze where he stood. If he didn't know any better, Zexion would have thought Axel had never seen a teenage science prodigy before in his life.

Zexion skipped the pleasantries. He didn't have time to wait for Axel to get used to him standing there, nor did he want Axel to ever get used to him standing there. He simply said, "You'll be interested to know who Marluxia chose to be his newest gardener."

With that he gave a flippant wave and turned on his heal to go. He didn't need to look back to see the look of horror that dawned on Axel's face before the redhead dashed down the hall.

* * *

Roxas knew he was doomed. Zexion wouldn't have helped another soul if his life depended on it, and Marluxia knew it.

The man began to snigger, and Roxas gritted his teeth. "I've had enough! Let me leave or else!"

"Or else what, Keybearer?" Marluxia lifted the ivy chain that connected Roxas' ankle to the wall. "You're in no position to fight me."

"That's what you think," Roxas shouted, and he broke into a run at Marluxia.

The man only grinned, and Roxas' brain turned to goo. His eyes ceased to see the room around him. Demonic lilies danced to and fro. A dandelion bent over and tickled his nose. Begonias dive-bombed him in the head. His body seared with a pain he had never known before in his short life, and he couldn't remember if there had ever been anything before this agony.

Suddenly a single rose dominated his vision, and for the longest time there was no pain. He thought he had come back to the real world, but then the rose began to morph into a face worse than any Heartless he had ever faced. Roxas let out a scream, but he knew his body wouldn't register it.

His real body was numb.

* * *

Axel tore up the stairs in his effort to get to the topmost floor. Although he had long ago mastered the art of using dark portals to get to precise locations, he wasn't the kind of guy to be so lazy as to use one to travel up a few flights of stairs. Though this certainly qualified as an emergency in his mind, he had his principles.

Zexion's words had been cryptic, but Axel wasn't stupid. The last person Marluxia had tried to recruit as his personal gardener-slave was Demyx, and that hadn't ended so well for Marluxia. If Demyx had somehow gotten himself tricked into it again, Axel would help the guy out.

But Zexion wouldn't have gone out of his way to come to him if it had been Demyx's dignity on the line. If it wasn't Demyx, it had to be…

Axel brushed the thought out of his head. He would see when he got there and if it was as he thought, then nothing would stop him from ripping Marluxia's head off.

He made it to the top floor out of breath, but that didn't stop him from making it to the front of Marluxia's door. He heard indistinct mumbling coming from the other side, and prepared himself for a fight.

He opened the door to be greeted by the same scene that Zexion saw when he opened the door only five minutes ago.

Only this time Marluxia cursed loudly.

Axel bared his teeth.

Roxas sat kneeled on the floor with his hands balled into fists, his forehead touching the floor as he trembled from the illusion: Floral Nightmare, Marluxia's special brand of mental torture.

"I knew you liked to pick on Demyx," Axel said, "but I didn't know you were heartless enough to pick on kids." He summoned a wall of flames to his back. "And I didn't know you were stupid enough to drag Roxas into your sick games."

Marluxia was quick to pull himself together from the initial panic of Axel's arrival. "What can I say? New blood is always hard to resist."

It was the wrong thing to say, and from the grin on his face, Marluxia knew it.

Axel summoned his Chakrams in a burst of light. "Come at me, Marluxia!"

"With pleasure."

With Marluxia's concentration divided, Roxas snapped out of the illusion with a shuddery gasp. When he saw the two in front of him about to clash, he jumped up to join the fight, but Axel waved him away.

"Back off, Roxas. He's mine."

Roxas did as he was told. There was no arguing with Axel when he was this furious.

A clang of metal rang around the room as Axel's Chakrams slammed against Marluxia's giant scythe. They both shook with the force.

"I don't know why you're so mad," Marluxia hissed. "He agreed to do the work for me. I say you let him make his own decisions."

"You're right. Sending someone into a nightmare world is a perfectly reasonable way to motivate them to do work. How silly of me."

" _Quite_." Marluxia followed the word with a swipe at Axel's abdomen, which Axel swiftly avoided, jumping in the air. He didn't get very far in the air as he slammed against something firm and rigid.

"Oh no," he heard Roxas mutter bellow. "The begonias."

Axel looked up to see that Roxas was right. He had rammed against the thick stems of some very overgrown begonias, which reached all the way up to the ceiling, complete with giant yellow blossoms.

"Man, why are all these plants so big?" Axel called as he lifted his Chakram to slice through the stems. They were more like trunks.

"Nothing helps flowers bloom better than hard work and dedication," Marluxia said, and Axel detected a hint of wistful nostalgia amid the desire to strike and hurt. Axel had to hand it to the guy. He knew how to garden.

He also knew how to fly. He flew up and tried again to slice through Axel's defenses, and it was all Axel could do to block the attack.

Axel shoved the mad gardener away and bounced off one of the begonia's stems, turning a flip and landing on his feet.

With a flourish of the hand that wasn't clasped around his scythe, Marluxia shouted, "Come, my trowels!"

Axel gritted his teeth as a handful of tiny shovels floated into the air. "Don't you think you're taking the gardening thing a little too seriously?"

"Never," Marluxia replied, a glint in his eyes. "Attack!"

The trowels dashed forward and clanked against Axel's Chakrams, but he managed to avoid damage. Marluxia wouldn't have it.

"Pots! Rakes! Spades! Lend your power!"

Axel had never been attacked by an arsenal of garden-based weapons before, but even under the barrage of nearly all of Marluxia's enchanted gardening tools, he held his own.

"Axel! Look out!" Roxas shouted suddenly, and Axel found it difficult to take the warning seriously, as Roxas was still wearing the rose apron.

Luckily, Axel did take the warning seriously and turned around just in time. He was able to jump out of the way as Marluxia made yet another attempt to strike with his scythe.

Axel planted himself firmly on his own two feet on the other side of the room, which was more than he could say for the so-called Graceful Assassin, who fell forward and nearly tumbled to the ground.

Marluxia growled. "You won't win this, Axel!" he shouted. "Feel the full extent of my power!"

An even larger assortment of Marluxia's tools rose into the air behind him, including a bag of what Axel assumed to be manure, but Axel didn't let it scare him.

"You may have better toys, Marluxia." Axel smirked. "But I have seniority."

He gathered all of his energy into his Chakrams and let lose a level of magic only achievable after years in the organization. The lightshow that raced toward Marluxia was sparkling and red, a physical embodiment of the fire that lit Axel's soul.

Marluxia never stood a chance. His garden tools all but disintegrated in the blast, and he shouted as he slammed against the wall behind him. By the time he had gathered his wits, Axel was standing over him with the edge of his Chakram at his neck.

Marluxia cleared his throat. "I supposed that's the end of that." He snapped his fingers and the room went back to its blank, white state, looking like every other room in their living complex.

Axel let his Chakrams slip back into the ether. "You listen to me. If you ever pull a stunt like this again, you'll regret the day you joined this organization."

"Of course. I hear you loud and clear."

Axel didn't take his narrowed eyes off of Marluxia's, even as he opened up a dark portal where Roxas stood to spirit him out of the room. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot. They would butt heads again, but next time, Axel would be sure that everything came together to take Marluxia down.

* * *

One second Axel and Marluxia were having a staring contest to rival Lexaeus and everything, and the next Roxas was sitting on a white sofa, staring at a completely different white room from the one he had left. Only the trained eye could tell.

"Are you all right? He didn't rough you up too much, did he?"

When Roxas' head snapped around and he realized that he was in Axel's room, he relaxed.

"No. We fought a little bit, but I'm fine."

"Good." Axel had a seat across from Roxas in a white easy chair. "Sorry you had to be Marluxia's next 'victim.' He always tries to get to people he thinks he can bully into being his personal gardener."

"Is that really what it was all about?" Roxas muses aloud. "That can't be it."

"I know it sounds stupid," Axel says. He crosses his legs and leans back in the chair. "Marluxia is serious about gardening, but he barely has any time to do it with all the organization stuff he has to do. A year ago when Larxene was the 'new blood,' he tried to recruit her for the job, too. She nearly killed him." Axel chuckled at a memory Roxas hoped to never find out about. "And after that he tried to pull the same thing on Demyx, but he's not as much of a wimp as he seems. Let's just say Marluxia's posies were all washed up after that. Then you were next on the list."

"I…see." Roxas thought back to that first night when Marluxia plucked him out of his room and dressed him in the apron made of roses, which he thankfully wasn't wearing anymore. Marluxia had ordered him to tend to his personal garden on the balcony, but Roxas refused outright. It wasn't until Marluxia started putting those horrifying illusions into his head that Roxas could bring himself to begin planting the begonia seeds as he had been instructed. A wounded pride was better than the plant-themed nightmares Marluxia was capable of conjuring up.

"Is his 'Floral Nightmare' getting to you?" Axel asked, and Roxas snapped out of his reverie with a start. Then he shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "Yeah, I thought so. Don't worry about it. You'll forget those visions in no time. It's not a very powerful spell."

"If you say so," Roxas whispered.

"Ah, cheer up, buddy." Axel stood from his chair and dragged Roxas up with him. "Come on. I'll buy you some ice cream."

"What? You want ice cream now?"

"Sure. That always cheers you up."

Roxas stared for a moment before blinking and smiling. It seemed far too genuine for someone without a heart, and Axel realized that it was more than just a convincing display of emotion.

It came from the heart.

That smile was contagious, and for the first time since joining the organization, Axel smiled and it reached his chest.

"Ice cream would be nice."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Wrote this author's note on 8-27-2014_ And that's the end. I hope you enjoyed the twists and turns. I'm glad I finally sat down and gave this a proper ending after four whole years. Thanks for sticking with me till the end. I'd love to know what you think and I hope to see you again.
> 
> _Thanks again for reading. If you have any thoughts, feel free to let me know in the comments. I love hearing what people have to say!_


End file.
